True team effort from football players for cleanup in Brick

Nov. 24, 2012

Brick Township High School football player Anthony Jones, 16, helps clear out damaged sheetrock from the McAvoy home in Brick Township on Friday. The home was damaged by high waters from Superstorm Sandy. / Thomas P. Costello/Staff photographer

Brick High School football player Amos Corralez, 16, helps clean out damaged sheetrock from the McAvoy home on Nejecho Drive home in Brick Township. The home was damaged by high waters from Superstorm Sandy. BRICK TOWNSHIP, NJ 11/23/12 WITH VIDEO FOOTBALLCLEANUP1123B ASBURY PARK PRESS PHOTO BY THOMAS P. COSTELLO

Brick High School football coach Rob Dahl helps clean out soaked insulation from the garage at the McAvoy home on Nejecho Drive home in Brick Township. The home was damaged by high waters from Superstorm Sandy. BRICK TOWNSHIP, NJ 11/23/12 WITH VIDEO FOOTBALLCLEANUP1123C ASBURY PARK PRESS PHOTO BY THOMAS P. COSTELLO

Tricia McAvoy got help from Brick High School football players cleaning out damaged sheetrock from her Nejecho Drive home in Brick Township Friday. The home was damaged by high waters from Superstorm Sandy. BRICK TOWNSHIP, NJ 11/23/12 WITH VIDEO FOOTBALLCLEANUP1123D ASBURY PARK PRESS PHOTO BY THOMAS P. COSTELLO

Tricia McAvoy got help from Brick High School football players cleaning out damaged sheetrock from her Nejecho Drive home in Brick Township Friday. The home was damaged by high waters from Superstorm Sandy. BRICK TOWNSHIP, NJ 11/23/12 WITH VIDEO FOOTBALLCLEANUP1123E ASBURY PARK PRESS PHOTO BY THOMAS P. COSTELLO

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BRICK — Rob Dahl couldn’t stand by and watch his community suffer from the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, so he put in a request to his football team, Brick Township High School’s Dragons, to do some work off the playing field.

Dahl, the team’s head coach, of Brick gathered up his team, and together, have helped clean out close to 40 homes in the last three weeks.

“Initially it was throwing out furniture and appliances, moving stuff out (that got ruined),” said Dahl, 39. “And then lately, as all the furniture and carpeting came out, now we’re getting into removing sheetrock and trims and doors and a little bit of insulation.”

Dahl said his players, now in off-season, were all on the same page with his idea.

“They jumped all over it,” said Dahl.

“And six of the players also lost their houses, so we can relate. We reached out to those people first, and also took Facebook requests.”

And then Dahl said they moved out to the neighborhoods that got hit hardest: Cherry Quay, Shore Acres and Nejecho Beach, among others to cover more ground with more of the coaches.

Of the approximate 40 houses they’ve cleaned, Dahl said the team didn’t know 32 of them.

Tricia McAvoy, 61, of Brick was one the Nejecho Beach homes the team attended to on Friday. It was their second time at her house, where her first floor and and outdoor deck was destroyed.

“These kids have been phenomenal,” said McAvoy. “I don’t have a lot of help. They came in there as such a united team of gangbusters. It made me cry.”

The football players moved all of McAvoy’s insulation and sheetrock, which was sitting on her sidewalk, to the curb so the township would pick it up. Then, they came in and removed more of the sheetrock from her home.

“They are the sweetest bunch of kids, and they just wanted to do more and more and more,” said McAvoy. “They were wonderful.”

With school back in session, their volunteer efforts have mainly been on Saturdays and long holiday weekends. Dahl said the clean-up will continue for awhile.

“What we can do, we will do,” Dahl said.

“I think it was a chance for us to go out and help our community. It’s good the kids are seeing firsthand what others are going through, and it’s a been a really good experience for them. The more they see, they want to help more and more.”

For those requesting the assistance from the Brick Township High School Dragons football team, e-mail Dahl at rdahl@brickschools.org.